Tuscany 1636 testone
This specimen was lot 2513 in Goldberg sale 110 (Los Angeles, June 2019), where it did not sell. The catalog description[1] noted, "Italian States: Florence (Tuscany). Teston, 1636. Ferdinando II de Medici, 1621-1670. Bare-headed, draped, and armored bust right. Reverse: St. John the Baptist seated facing, holding cruciform staff and pointing to heaven. Superb example. NGC graded AU-55." The SCWC does not list any coinage for Tuscany in the seventeenth century except the piastri and the gold doppie. A testone was generally equal to one-third of a piastra. The duchy was quite impoverished by this period, a result of warfare and economic decline, and her coinage is scanty.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: CNI-XII-91.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Goldberg, Ira, Larry Goldberg, John Lavender, Yifu Che, Jason Villareal and Stephen Harvey, Goldberg Sale 110: the Pre-Long Beach Auction, Los Angeles: Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, 2019.
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